


all about her

by popnographic



Category: Free!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Baking, Dancing, Drabble Collection, F/M, Fluff, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 18:52:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5939493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/popnographic/pseuds/popnographic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gou-centric drabbles with a side of disgusting fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all about her

She watches him from where she stands by the door; he’s walking back and forth between the cupboards, opening one and looking through it before realising there isn’t anything edible in there before moving on to the next. Well, there _are_ edible items in there, sure—but not to Makoto’s standards. When Makoto’s opened the spice cabinet for probably the fourth time, Gou shakes her head, stifling a giggle, as she walks up and hugs him from behind. Makoto flinches at the sudden contact and yelps.

“Gou!” he says. “I didn’t—you should’ve said something.”

“No,” she replies, nuzzling her nose into the fabric of his shirt. “I think you’re cute whenever I manage to scare you.”

Makoto huffs. “It’s not funny.”

“It is. You know we could bake something if you’re really that hungry for something sweet, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“Because you’ve been looking through the spice cabinet about four times in ten minutes, and you don’t cook.”

He hunches his shoulders, and Gou’s smile widens as she lets him go to stand in front of him and embrace him like that instead.

“How about cupcakes?”

 

*

 

“You know,” Gou says, wiping some flour off her hands on the apron she’s wearing, “I asked Rei once if he attracted rain, because it really felt like he did. And I feel like you attract kitchen-related disasters. What _is_ it with you guys?”

“I don’t know how or why!” Makoto exclaims in despair and groans, hiding his face in his hands. Gou can’t bring herself to be angry despite the burnt cupcakes and the far too sweet icing. Cupcakes don’t take forever to make, so it isn’t as if they lost several hours of their time.

She ignores the minor mess on their kitchen counters in favour of going over to comfort her heartbroken boyfriend in the form of a hug.

“If you clean up the kitchen, I’ll go and buy us some cupcakes.”

Makoto manages a laugh. “Fine.” He lifts Gou up into his arms and brushes his nose against hers before leaning in for a kiss. “Maybe we’ll get lucky next time.”

“If there _is_ a next time,” Gou says, and Makoto whimpers like the dog she feels like he is sometimes.

 

* * *

 

“I’m not so sure about this, Haruka.”

He rolls his eyes, tugging at her hands to get her to continue walking into the pool, away from the stepladder. “You don’t trust me?”

“I do, it’s just… you know I can’t swim.”

“Yeah.”

“So why are we in a pool?”

“Because I want to teach you.”

Gou frowns and chews on her lower lip, but she lets Haruka lead her into the pool anyway, choosing to trust him. It isn’t as if she doubts his ability to keep her safe, she knows he _can_ , but it still doesn’t completely remove her nervousness over the whole situation.

Haruka stops walking. “You doing okay?”

She wants to say no, but that wouldn’t be the truth, even if she’d want it to be. “I’m okay,” she says instead, and he nods. She feels a little warm thinking about the fact that Haruka worries about her like this. He isn’t the nagging type of worried, which is nice since she gets enough of that from what feels like everyone else, but more of the silent type. The one who shows his concern instead of voicing it out loud.

Bit by bit, and very meticulously, Haruka teaches her to float on her stomach using the mushroom float method. When she’s gotten the hang of just floating—which she finds to be an achievement in and of itself—Haruka shows her the basics of the breaststroke.

It’s funny; she should really know this by now, considering the fact that she was the manager of a swim team for three years in high school. But she appreciates it nevertheless, and soon finds that all of the exposure to swimming in high school, despite not having done it herself, has really helped her in the end.

“Good,” Haruka says, walking next to her as she takes a few breaststrokes and stops in the middle of the pool. “Wanna stop for now?”

“I do,” she admits, but Haruka doesn’t seem to mind.

She leans on her arms on the edge of the pool, and Haruka does the same next to her. It’s nice and quiet, the only sounds heard around them being the water calmly lapping against the side of the pool. Her muscles are going to be _really_ aching come the next morning, but it’s a Sunday, and they don’t have to leave the house if they so wish to stay inside all day.

“I have to admit that this was nice. I’m glad we came here.”

Haruka hums. “Me too.”

“I know, because it’s a pool.”

“’S not the only reason.”

She smiles. “Thanks, Haruka.”

There’s a sound of water splashing gently next to her, and then she feels a hand on her cheek. Haruka turns her head towards his and brings her close for a kiss, and Gou feels like her heart skipped a beat or two.

“Anytime,” Haruka says, and the look in his eyes makes Gou feel like there’s a horde of butterflies in her stomach wildly flapping their wings about, almost to the point where it hurts. She forces herself out of her weird trance and clears her throat.

“We should really leave before we get locked in.”

Haruka shrugs and leans down onto his crossed arms again. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“I would! I wanna sleep in a bed tonight, and not on a locker room bench.”

 

* * *

 

It’s never easy, no matter how many times she has to say goodbye to Rin before he goes back to Australia. It’s a little less tough when he’s been home over Christmas for about two weeks, but when he’s home an entire summer and has to go back, _that’s_ when it’s really difficult.

She’s sitting on the couch, hugging her knees and half watching a crime show on TV when Kisumi comes in. He sits down next to her without saying anything for a few seconds, but then he takes the remote and turns the TV off. Gou’s just about to ask him why before she watches him turn on the stereo instead, using his phone as the media player.

“Come,” he says as he stands up and stretches out his hand. “Let’s dance.”

Gou shrugs half-heartedly. “Not in the mood.”

But Kisumi isn’t satisfied with her answer, of course, and just takes her right hand in his before he gently tugs at it to get her to get off the couch. With a sigh, she does as she’s told, and Kisumi pulls her towards him and envelops her in his arms.

“ _When you're weary, feeling small_  
_When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all_  
_I'm on your side, when times get rough._ ”

Gou can’t help but laugh a little at that, leaning her head against Kisumi’s chest as they slow-dance in their living room. “Are you letting the song speak for you?”

Kisumi kisses her on the top of her head. “Maybe.”

“I like your singing voice.”

“I’m glad, I’ve been practicing.”

Her smile widens. “In the shower, I assume.”

“Yes.”

Gou closes her eyes, still smiling, letting Kisumi lead. Normally she’d find this too cheesy and just laugh at the idea of slow-dancing with someone to a cheesy love song, but maybe it’s because it’s Kisumi that she finds it okay. Knowing that this is his way of trying to cheer her up, and appreciating it.

“Kisumi?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

This time, it’s his turn to laugh. “Why so sentimental suddenly? This isn’t like you.”

Gou lets a sigh out through her nose. “Probably because of you.”

“Thanks to me, you mean.”

“No, I meant what I said.”

 

* * *

 

 

While she can’t deny the fact that the sky is absolutely beautiful with all of the stars painted across it, Gou still doesn’t quite understand why they’re here in the first place. This isn’t exactly something the two of them do on a regular basis, if _ever_ , so she probably has the right to be confused. Not that there’s anything wrong with watching the stars while lying on top of the hood of their car when it’s almost midnight, but she still can’t help but wonder.

“Tell me why we’re doing this again,” she says, looking over at Sousuke who’s still looking up at the sky above them.

“What, you wanna go home?”

“We don’t _have_ to,” she shrugs. “I’m just wondering.”

Sousuke laughs a little as he turns his head to look back at her. “I don’t actually know. Let’s just say this is my weird idea of taking you out on a date that doesn’t involve a cheesy candlelight dinner at a restaurant.”

Gou raises an eyebrow. “And this isn’t cheesy?”

For some reason, though, Gou can’t deny that it’s romantic. It’s just the two of them around, but that’s probably to be expected seeing as they drove away from the more populated area of town and parked the car up on a hill people don’t often go to.

“It is, but at least we aren’t surrounded by other cheesy people.”

She smiles and looks back up at the sky. “It’s fine if it’s just us, huh.”

“Exactly.”

Sousuke takes her hand and interlaces their fingers, and Gou’s smile widens.

Okay, so maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> [radiodread](http://radiodread.tumblr.com) @ tumblr


End file.
